Bridgeport continues debate of 2013 budget

BRIDGEPORT — Council continues to discuss the deficit of the 2013 budget.

At the previous council meeting, the deficit was at $187,000. Township Manager William Martin met with the department heads to try to cut down the expenditures to help with the issue.

After those cuts, the deficit is down to $159,000, but that still includes the local service tax (LST) being raised to $52. If the LST does not raise, the council will have to find approximately $28,000.

This deficit includes no pay raises for union staff and a three percent increase for non-uniformed employees.

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Martin and the internal auditor met and suggested that the money could be borrowed from the unrestricted fund balance of $150,000 but would require a commitment to repay that back in the 2014 budget.

“There is no way to cut $150,000 in savings from your budget unless you’re going to cut bone and that requires layoffs or department consolidations which have a severe impact on the residents,” said Martin.

However, many council members are still expressing concerns with raising the LST.

“It’s difficult to think it’s okay, because even though it may not be a lot of money. It’s a lot of money to them each month. We have people on fixed incomes. It’s hard now, everything is going up all around them,” said Council Member Juanita Coover.

Vice President Jack Kowal also asked Martin to look into finding out how many residents are affected by this tax to make a better informed decision.

Mayor Thaddeus Pruskowski is also disagreeing with the proposed tax increase. Pruskowski does not want to raise taxes in three different areas in the same year. Sewer and real estate taxes are already being increased.

Kowal also asked for the mayor’s help in finding department cuts including in the mayor’s department.